


Magic Cafe

by kimjibyung



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Bread, Cafe AU, Love, M/M, Magic, Wish Bread, Wishes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:23:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22426267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimjibyung/pseuds/kimjibyung
Summary: Inspired by a prompt from Tumblr.Kris is an assassin that decides to, one day, stop by Junmyeon’s bakery and get some breakfast. He gets a muffin and some coffee, and later that night, on a mission, he gets in over his head and gets shot. Basically killed.But he doesn’t die.He lives. he should be dead but he lives.Why?Junmyeon bakes special bread.And Kris slowly realizes that. And goes back for more. And maybe something a little extra.
Relationships: Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Wu Yi Fan | Kris
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

“It’s over, he’s dead,” Kris spoke into the burner phone, “You know where to meet me in tomorrow.” He stepped away from the individual that he’d just finished strangling to death.

There was a pause and then a hum over the receiver, “I don’t know, Duizhang, let’s try that new cafe that just opened up, yeah?”

Kris sighed heavily, groaning, “Fine, Chanyeol. The new cafe. Only because you’re my favorite.”

“I’ll have the cash then, thank you, Duizhang.”

“No problem,” he ended the call, glancing back at the body on the floor. The older man would no longer be able to put his hands on Chanyeol now. Kris made sure of it. Now he had to dispose of the body and all the evidence and then he’d be onto the next job.

–

The next morning, Kris walked into the new cafe that had just opened up a week ago on the main street of Seoul. It was cute inside. Bright colors, small displays of plushes and plants here and there. It was a bit out of what Kris usually liked in a decent restaurant, but the smell that greeted him as soon as he entered the cafe had his mouth watering.

The smell of coffee and something that smelled like spiced apples baking. It smelled heavenly.

He saw the hand in the air that lead him to Chanyeol at the table in the corner, secluded and out of public eye. He glanced around to see that the cafe wasn’t that crowded, but it could’ve been because of the early hour. Odds are everyone that stopped by only came for breakfast and was out the door with their goodie-bags onto work.

“Duizhang! You’ve got to try the food here, this chocolate bread is to die for!” Chanyeol exclaimed around a mouthful of bread.

Kris rolled his eyes, taking a seat across from Chanyeol, “Don’t talk with your mouth full, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol basically choked down his mouthful with a sip of his coffee, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, “Sorry, Duizhang, are you going to order anything? The baker here is really cute, I think he makes everything from scratch too. It’s so good.”

Kris glanced over at the counter and saw the black haired man in the neat white apron. He had to admit that Chanyeol was right, he was cute. Pale-faced, dark eyes, and he was short. Nice lips too.

He turned back to see Chanyeol grinning at him, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Kris glared at him until he stopped grinning, “You’ve got nothing to worry about with going back home now, Chanyeol. He’s gone.”

The mood instantly damped at that statement, Chanyeol’s eyes watered, he lowered them to his plate of breakfast, “Thank you, Duizhang.” He pulled out an envelope with the payment and handed it over, “I know this is what you told me that you’d charge but I still feel like it’s too little for what you did for me.”

Kris covered Chanyeol’s hand over the envelope, softly squeezing his hand, “If you hadn’t insisted, I wouldn’t have charged anything, you know that, Chanyeol. I just wish you’d told me sooner than now. You shouldn’t have let that go on that long. You didn’t deserve any of that.”

Chanyeol shrugged, still not meeting Kris’s eyes, “He was my dad, I just–”

“Father or not, a parent doesn’t do that to their kid. But you’re safe now.” Chanyeol finally looked up and met his gaze, “And if you need anything else in the future, you know how to get in contact with me.”

“Thank you, Duizhang.”

After getting paid and bidding Chanyeol a farewell, Kris decided to step up to the counter to order something before leaving. Whatever was baking now smelled too good for him to leave without trying anything. And the way that Chanyeol stuffed his face with the chocolate bread, he figured he wouldn’t be disappointed.

“Hi, sir, would you like to try our new Wish bread?” the short brown haired cashier asked, pointing over to the freshly baked breads in the case beside her. “They’re our Baker Kim’s specialty.”

Kris glanced over at the breads that she pointed at, “Sure. I’ll take one and a coffee. Black with two sugars.”

As she busied getting his order ready, Kris glanced at the other side of the counter where the ‘Baker Kim’ was icing up a cake. The way that his lip poked out as he concentrated was cute, then in the finishing touch to the cake, that bottom lip was pulled between the man’s teeth.

“Here’s your order, sir,” that soft voice broke him from any thoughts that even tried to fill his mind, “it’ll be five twenty.” He looked back at her and noticed the way that she was trying to hold back a small grin. She must’ve noticed his staring at the baker.

He muttered a small ‘thank you’ before handing her the money and then slipping out the door with his order. Narrowly missing the small comment from her to the baker of ‘he was so checking you out’ but he didn’t turn back.

It was mildly embarrassing. Kris doesn’t date. He rarely showed any interest in anyone. His line of work didn’t allow for close intimate relationships like that. His friends, like Chanyeol, were the only difference.

But as he bit into that soft and warm Wish bread, he knew that he’d be back at the cafe soon. It tasted of vanilla and a maybe a little cinnamon-y. There was another hint of something else that Kris couldn’t figure out but it was still delicious all the same.

He finished the whole thing on the way back to his apartment where he’d get started on planning his next job taking place tonight.

–

It was wrong. The whole event was wrong. The information that Kris had been given was wrong. Everything was wrong. The object of the case was the only thing that was right. However, the object was more intellect than Kris had been informed. An individual that took notice of everything in their apartment.

So when Kris had snuck in, the individual already knew something was off.

He was lucky enough to get the person in a headlock but the blow to his stomach from the individual’s elbow was something he didn’t see coming. He doubled over in pain but quickly had to go after the person when they started out of the apartment and down the stairs.

Everything lead to the alleyway at back of the apartment building. Kris caught up with him and grabbed him, the two ending up in a scuffle until his gun had landed in the wrong hands, and the last thing Kris heard was a gunshot.

There was pain and then nothing but blackness.


	2. Part Two

Death was something that Kris didn’t fear. The mere thought of it didn’t even bother him. He was sure that in his line of work that he would meet the black cloaked being with the sharp pointy scythe eventually. It was just a fact of life. His life. He knew it the day that he decided to go down this career path. If life had been a little bit more merciful for him, he wouldn’t have had to, but this was the hand he was dealt and he was making sure to play his cards to his best knowledge. Always knowing that in the end, he would be dealt a joker and it would be game over.

So right now, when he found himself waking up to a cold damp ground underneath him and no black cloaked skeleton that was about to reap his soul, it confused him. He was certain that he could’ve been wrong about what the afterlife entitled but it seemed like he was just waking up from a night of drinking himself silly. But he hadn’t done that in so long so he wondered what the occasion was for a night like that.

He opened his eyes and found that he was in an alley. It was the morning hours, the sun slowly creeping up the horizon and shining a little light so it wasn’t as dark in the alleyway. He recognized his surroundings as the same from last night and then everything flooded his mind again. The target that he was after. The events that led up to this point. Him getting shot. He could remember hearing the deafening ring of the gunshot, could remember the small piercing of pain, but then nothing else after that.

He reached up to touch his forehead, the area he had saw the gun aimed at, and found that there was dried blood caked to his forehead but no point of entry. Other than the dried blood, there was nothing else.

He looked around and didn’t see anyone else in the alley. Pulling himself up on shaky feet and in a confused state, he made his way back to his apartment.

There, he got a full sight of what appeared to happen. His reflection showed the dried blood on his forehead, just above his right eye. But no gunshot wound or anything that looked like he’d gotten shot in the head.

“What the fuck?” He murmured in confusion, he should be dead. He was certain that he should be dead. Why wasn’t he dead? His target, Kim Daeyeon, shot him. Point blank. He should be lying dead in that alleyway.

But instead, he’s back in his apartment now. He’s alive and well, he even checked his pulse, it’s there. His heart is still beating on. So what the fuck happened?

His train of thought was interrupted when his burner phone started ringing. An unknown number but he had a feeling he knew who it was. When he picked up and heard that deep voice, he knew he was right.

“He’s not dead. I contracted you to do a job, why is Kim Daeyeon still walking around in my apartment?”

At first Kris didn’t know what to say, but given the tone of the man’s voice, it irked him instantly. “I’ll get the job done, you haven’t paid me yet which means the job isn’t over yet. You’ll know when it’s taken care of, don’t call me again until you see it’s done.” He hung up before the man could say anything else.

He sighed to himself, running a hand down his face in annoyance. He didn’t know what happened last night, from what he could remember, he should be dead. But he wasn’t. Here he was in his bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror, his eyes zeroed in on the dried blood on his forehead where he was sure he’d gotten shot at.

He shook his head, turning on the tap to wash his face, and hopefully wash away whatever happened last night.

–

And a good way to get rid of thoughts about last night? Get breakfast.

Chanyeol was right. The little cafe was good enough to return to the following morning, and it was the convenient enough that it was only three blocks away from Kris’s apartment building. And the small glimpse of the baker when he walked in might have helped a bit to clear his mind as well.

There was something about that face though. Kris liked it. He was attractive. And while he hoped he didn’t make his interest seem to obvious, the cashier from yesterday seemed to notice every little thing. Kris didn’t draw it to attention when he entered at the little nod that the cashier did to the baker at himself.

Instead, opting for the same breakfast that he had yesterday, he simply went to order. Only today, the popular Wish bread was flavored with baked apples in the center. It sounded good, smelled even better with the sugary cinnamon scent.

“The Wish bread is such a popular item here. I’ve heard some of the customers saying that it really grants people’s wishes when they eat it,” the cashier commented, Kris read her name on her name tag as Yeri, as she busied to get his coffee ready.

Kris hummed, thinking nothing of the comment, he didn’t believe in wishes or luck. Although from last night’s events, it had him pausing but he shook it off. He slipped another few dollars with his bill, “If that’s true, then you have one too. On me. For whatever you wish for.”

She seemed surprised by that, placing a cap over his cup of coffee, looking down at the money, “You’re sure? You’re really buying me some Wish bread?”

He sent a wink to her, taking his order and sliding the cash further to her, “As a thanks for making good coffee. Let me know if your wish comes true.”

“Okay, I will. Thank you, and thank you for your service,” she bowed, smiling as she put the money into the cash register and just as Kris started out the door, he heard her mumble, “I wish for a million dollars.”

He laughed quietly to himself as he exited the cafe, sparing one last glance at the baker, who he could’ve sworn had been looking at him. He shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee. Just the way he liked it.

Now onto today’s mission. Killing Kim Daeyeon.

And just to humor the cashier, he made a wish on his final piece of the Wish bread.

_I wish to complete this mission._

–

The envelope slid under his apartment door that next morning was no surprise to him. It’d be on the news tonight about a dead body found shot to death not far from where Kris woke up the other morning. That job was done.

He thought it was amusing how the passing thought was that he got what he wished for. But after years of accomplishing his missions and orders, it was all about skill. Not luck. Not any magical little fairy tales.

He just wondered if the cashier at the cafe got her wish of a million dollars now. He had close to that in his bank account now from the countless missions that he’d had. It was a small nest egg. And he got to live comfortably because of it.

But in retail, he knew that the cashier couldn’t make anymore than minimum wage or a little above.

As he dug through his thinning wardrobe for something clean to wear, he wondered how it would be if he had gave all this up and just became a cashier at a small cafe. Would he be happy? He knew one thing was sure, he wouldn’t have to keep burning the clothes that he wore to each day of work if he was a cashier and not a coldblooded killer.

He was free tonight, he wondered what he should busy himself with doing. Maybe hit up Chanyeol again or one of his other friends

–

The next morning he went back to the cafe, it was convenient and the Wish bread was good enough. Kris would have to refrain once he started seeing the effects of all those calories though. What surprised him though was the fact that the baker was the one at the cash register today, another person was busying themselves with preparing breads and the kitchen area. A short black haired man that reminded Kris of a squirrel. Cute. But not as cute as Baker Kim.

Kris stepped up after the last person in line had walked away with their order, and before he placed his order, he had to ask, “Where’s the other cashier? Yeri?”

Baker Kim smiled, and there was something in his eyes that Kris couldn’t figure out, like an inside joke, “That Wish bread you bought her yesterday worked.”

That caught Kris off guard, “I’m sorry? What do you mean? I heard her wish for a million dollars… how…?”

Baker Kim laughed, “She did, and before she got off work last night, she had a lottery ticket that had the winning numbers. She called me this morning to say that she was resigning.”

Well that definitely caught Kris off guard, “Oh… must be some pretty lucky bread.”

Baker Kim’s smile widened, “Have you had any wishes come true? You’ve come in the last two mornings and ordered it. Have you tried wishing for anything?”

Kris decided to shake his head, negative, he didn’t think he should bring up the small wish last night before he took care of Kim Daeyeon. “No, I don’t believe in wishes, but I will take another Wish bread, if you have any new flavors, I’m willing to try them.”

The baker looked over at the display, gesturing towards the apple flavor ones Kris had yesterday, “We still have the apple flavored ones, and then yesterday, my other baker and I cooked up some strawberry flavored ones.”

“I’ll take one of both then, and a black coffee with two sugars.”

“Alright, want to try making a wish with one? Or both?”

Kris laughed softly, “For your humor, I’ll try it.”

Baker Kim gave him a small wink as he fixed his coffee, “You never know, you might end up with a million dollars like Yeri did.”

“I don’t play the lottery, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

After getting his order, Kris found a small table near the windows, and sat down to eat his breakfast. He finished off the strawberry bread, opting to save the apple one for later. He could pop it in the microwave later to warm it and eat it then. Just for shits and giggles, he decided to humor the idea of wishing again.

_I wish I knew Baker Kim’s first name._

He waited a few minutes after he did that, finished off his coffee, and nothing had happened. Baker Kim was taking another line of customers when he glanced back at the counter, he didn’t even notice Kris’s glance, focusing on the customers. He watched him work for a moment, wondering what the man’s name could be.

Turning back to the window and people-watching again, he thought about what Baker Kim said about Yeri. He wondered if that bread had anything to do with what happened after he was shot. He couldn’t remember wishing that he didn’t die. He did remember just thinking _please, don’t let me die_, it wasn’t exactly a wish, but it could be viewed as such, couldn’t it? Could it have been that silly Wish bread that ended up saving his life?

Unless there was something more to it. Unless there was something more to Baker Kim.

He drained the last sip of coffee and stood up, tossing the cup and wrapper for the strawberry bread in the trash, the other one in his hand as he started to the door.

“Excuse me, sir?” He stopped at the familiar voice, Baker Kim. He turned back to see the baker walking up to him, all the customers that were in line were gone now. He had a small slip of paper in his hands, like a receipt. Kris wondered vaguely if he didn’t get his receipt earlier, if he was giving it to him now? But the slight blushing to the baker’s cheeks and small hesitance in his steps made Kris think otherwise. “I know it’s odd, but if you’re interested, I wouldn’t mind seeing you outside of the cafe…” he handed over the slip of paper.

Kris tried to hide his surprise at the name on the slip of paper and the number under it. “Kim _Junmyeon_.” He looked back up at Baker Kim, Junmyeon now.

“Can I ask your name?” _Junmyeon_ asked.

“Kris…” Kris trailed off, his wish came true. He knew Baker Kim’s name now. “Kris Wu…” he shook off his shock, clearing his throat, “and thank you, I wouldn’t mind meeting up outside of the cafe. I’ll give you a text soon.”

The smile that crossed Baker Kim _Junmyeon’s_ face would stay in Kris’s head the rest of the day.


	3. Part Three

Later that evening after Kris got off the phone with another job offer, he lazed around his apartment for the rest of the night. Turning on his coffee maker, he brewed himself a cup and popped the pastry that he got from the cafe earlier into the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up. It wouldn’t be as good as the fresh one he had this morning, but it would suffice.

After he finished making his coffee and once the microwave dinged, he gathered his small snack and moved over to the couch where he pulled out his phone just as he took a small bite of the pastry. In his personal phone, he saved Baker Kim Junmyeon’s number in his contacts. His thumb hovered over the message button.

Would it be too early to text the man? He had just been given the number that morning. Was Junmyeon even off work yet? He’d hate to bother the man while he was still working. When did the cafe even close for the evening? He didn’t know. He’d never paid attention to the times on the sign out front when he went in during the morning hours.

But then he paused, and wondered, looking at the pastry. He thought it was silly but the sudden thought of wishing for the closing hours popped in his head. Did he really want to waste the silly notion of a wish on something like that? What if he wished that he could score a date with the baker? That would be a slightly better use of the wish. He figured, if anything, it couldn’t hurt to try it. Go out on a leap of faith.

After all, that cashier, Yeri, had won the lottery. And Kris heard her wish for a million dollars before he walked out of the cafe that day. That was a bit weird, and one could say that it was the wish coming true, but still, Kris didn’t believe in that magic stuff.

But it never hurt to experiment.

He finished up the pastry with a small _I wish for a date with this guy _and shot out a quick text.

_‘Hey, this is Kris.’_

Not a moment later, his phone dinged, _‘Hi, Kris, how are you doing tonight?’_

Okay, casual conversation, Kris could do that, he quickly texted back, _‘Just relaxing at home tonight. I’m not bothering you at the cafe tonight, am I?’ _

_‘No, just locked up the doors to the cafe right now. I’m heading home. I’m hungry.’_

Kris snorted at that, wondering why the man was hungry when he had all those delicious looking pastries around him before he left the cafe. But he could understand that if the baker worked with them all day, he probably lost his appetite for the breads by the end of the day.

But that ‘I’m hungry’ part left an opening. An opening that Kris decided to use to push his luck. And mostly to see if this Wish bread would grant his little wish. And Kris wouldn’t mind something more for dinner other than the coffee and pastry.

_‘I’m a bit hungry too… if you’d like, we could meet up at one of the restaurants and get something to eat.’_ He sent the message and then quickly typed up another one to send, _‘My treat.’_ Surely that would sweeten the deal, wouldn’t it?

The next reply hardly took a few seconds to come through, _‘Your treat? Who could turn down a free meal? You know the little noodle joint near my cafe? I’m headed there.’_

Kris couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face at that. He quickly got up from the couch and went to throw on some better clothes, trying to stay casual but still dress to impress. He started to the front door when he glanced back at his forgotten coffee and the balled up pastry paper that lied beside it. The ‘_wish’ _part of the Wish Bread was clearly visible… right beside where his black revolver lied on the coffee table.

“Maybe your wishes do come true,” he mumbled, then shook his head as he slipped on his shoes and was out the door.

It barely took five minutes to walk down the street and find the noodle restaurant that Junmyeon spoke of. Kris had eaten there plenty of times with Chanyeol and some of his other friends, it was a good place. The food was decent and the prices were reasonable. When he entered the building, it didn’t take much to find Junmyeon, but instead of his white baker uniform, he was dressed down in casual dark slacks and a simple dark blue button-down shirt.

The paleness of his skin stood out even more now. Kris had to gulp down the excess saliva in his mouth, and he swore he wasn’t going to start drooling.

“Oh, hi, Kris, that was fast,” Junmyeon called, waving towards one of the tables for him to join.

Kris stepped over to him, “I just live about five minutes from here, and maybe a minute or two from your cafe.” He sat down in the chair, Junmyeon sitting in the one across from him. “That’s why I’ve been coming to your cafe in the mornings for breakfast.”

Junmyeon smiled and winked, “I guess I picked the right location to set up shop then.”

If Kris’s cheeks tinted slightly, he’d deny it, the waiter coming over to take their orders was a save. Kris ordered what he usually got at the place and Junmyeon seemed to do the same, he barely glanced at the menu before responding to the waiter. Once the waiter took their order and walked back to the counter, Junmyeon moved to rest his elbows on the table, propping himself up with them.

“So tell me about yourself, Kris? What do you do other than get breakfast at my cafe?” Junmyeon asked, a teasing tone at the second question, a sparkle in his eyes that Kris liked.

The questions would’ve had Kris pausing if it hadn’t been for the countless times that he answered it to any prying individuals, “I run a freelance business from my home, mostly in insurance of different forms. I’m just the middleman, sort to say.” _By middleman meaning the one that carries out the requests, and the insurance being that the other person is dead and money is collected. _

The look that Junmyeon gave him caused him to falter, slightly, but it quickly vanished from Junmyeon’s eyes, they crinkled up in a smile, “That sounds interesting, I imagine it must pay well, yeah?”

Kris shrugged, “It pays the bills,” _and then some, _he added mentally. “What made you go into baking?”

The smile that crossed Junmyeon’s face was odd, like an inside joke that Kris wasn’t getting, but then he finally replied, “I have a gift,” he looked down at his hands, “my mother taught me how to bake cakes and sweets as a child, and she said I got her magic hands from her.” He flexed his hands before returning them to their prior position. He smiled sheepishly then, “I just like creating new things.”

The little part about magic hands clinked for Kris, something he’d wonder about later, but he decided to test the water, still not fully believing in the events that’s been happening lately, “Like the Wish bread?”

Junmyeon chuckled, “It’s my specialty. I always made it for my family and after I opened the cafe, I wanted to share it with the world.” He stared at Kris for a moment, eyes curious, “Have you tried making a wish on it yet? I heard Yeri that one morning telling you about the bread.”

Playing it off, Kris laughed, “No, I’m too old to believe in that kind of stuff.” The look on Junmyeon’s face told him that he didn’t believe Kris, but he didn’t say anything. “Although I think it was just pure luck that your cashier won the lottery that day.”

Junmyeon laughed, “She’d been playing for so long, I’m glad it paid off for her, but I did hate to see her go.”

“Have you found a replacement for her? I saw that other baker this morning…”

Junmyeon shook his head, “Not yet, I’m filling in for both roles right now, the other baker was an apprentice of mine. Kim Minseok.”

Kris hummed, the food being placed in front of them distracting him from asking anything else right now. The aroma coming from the broth and noodles had his mouth watering, he chanced a glance at Junmyeon to see the man almost resembling Kris. The two wasted no time in digging in.


End file.
